The most inspiring woman in Indonesia by Forbes in 2015, Ibu Tuti Hadiputranto shares her life story and her wisdom. She grew up during the war in Indonesia, became an activist.
In this episode, we talked about
- Her childhood during the war in a very strict military-style family values
- Her activist days against Sukarno government in 1965 – braving themselves against military people
- Her dreams when she was young and how they changed over time
- Being the first Indonesian corporate lawyer who is a female
- Her work experiences including the iconic Telkom IPO
- Setting up partnership structure for her own law firm in Indonesia
- What is the meaning of work-life balance?
“Success used to mean closing successful deals with clients, big deals, something that was so cutting edge, I felt so successful. But to me now, success means to continue working but also more sharing. Success means the balance of life is achieved now. I don’t lead deals now but involve in all cases, I can travel when I want.“
Ibu Hadiputranto is a well-respected Indonesian lawyer who has been working for 40 years with primary focuses on capital market/securities, corporate finance & restructuring work and in the Indonesian government’s recapitalization program for Indonesia banks. She graduated from the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Law and Social Sciences in 1970 and continued with a Master of Law from the University of Washington, USA (LLM) in 1981.
Currently, she serves as Senior Advisor of the Gajah Tunggal Group, the largest integrated tire manufacturer in Southeast Asia; Senior Advisor for Investment Banking company, Morgan Stanley Indonesia; Independent Commissioner of PT Astra International Tbk. and Members of the Risk Monitoring Committee of PT CIMB Niaga Tbk.
She is the founder and senior partner of Hadiputranto, Hadinoto, & Partners, notable as one of the largest Law Firms in Indonesia and affiliated with Global Law Firm, Baker & McKenzie. Tuti Hadiputranto also became an International Partner of Baker & McKenzie from 1989 to 2016 (retired). Tuti Hadiputranto also served as Member of the Disciplinary Committee, the Indonesia Stock Exchange (2009-2013) and as a Member of the Board of Commissioners of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (2001-2004). Ms. Hadiputranto was the first lawyer to be licensed with Bapepam (now the Financial Services Authority (OJK)) to do capital market work in Indonesia, as well as represented the first Indonesian company to undertake an international offering and listing of its American depository receipts on the New York stock exchange.
With all her dedicated work, in 2009 she was named as one of Indonesia’s 99 Most Powerful Women by Globe Asia Magazines and in 2015, she became the most inspiring woman in Indonesia from Forbes Indonesia.
Wisdoms Takeaway
- Success meaning changes over time, life is not black or white.
- People weren’t used to seeing women in corporate law then, but having a good mentor goes a long way.
- In order to achieve equality, be confident, do a lot of work, and show results.
- The younger generation needs to learn patience – the digital era gives instant satisfaction, which is not something common in everyday life.
- Don’t need to follow the norm – if you want to have only 1 kid and work full time, do that
- Give kids background in order to be able to analyze anything – see things not as linear, not from one point of view but from many. Otherwise, things move too fast for them, and will miss a lot of good points